Shuster & Saben defeats Florida Default & Wells Fargo

Poor Florida Default Law Group,  once against they have lost yet another case to Shuster & Saben, LLC.   This foreclosure case began when Wells Fargo decided to hire Tampa foreclosure mill Florida Default Law Group to prosecute a foreclosure case in Brevard County.  Florida Default assigned the file to a young lawyer handling a very large caseload.  The homeowner hired the Melbourne office of Shuster & Saben, where firm partner Richard Shuster immediately went on the offensive against Wells Fargo. 

Shuster, an experienced civil litigator practicing three times as many years as his opponent, moved to dismiss the case because the complaint was not properly verified.

The motion to dismiss  set forth that the person who “verified” the complaint had an illegible signature and the verification page did not state whether the unknown person signing the verification even worked for Wells Fargo.  The Court granted the motion to dismiss but granted leave for the Florida Default Law Group to fix the problem by filing an amended complaint within twenty days.  Florida Default and/or Wells Fargo then dropped the ball by letting nearly two months go by before they got around to complying with the Court’s order. Apparently they thought a Court order directly them to do something within 20 days meant 20 days or whenever they got around to doing it.

When Shuster received Wells Fargo’s amended verified complaint he immediately moved to strike the complaint and for the entire case to be dismissed.  Following a January 23, 2012, hearing the Court granted the firm’s motion to strike the amended complaint and dismissed the case.  Perhaps this order will teach Florida Default that Court orders need to be complied with and that when a judge orders you to do something you move it to the top of your to-do pile. 

After the case was dismissed Shuster filed a timely motion for attorney’s fees and will now prosecute an attorney fee claim against Wells Fargo.  The firm looks forward to obtaining fees from Wells Fargo and using such fees to reimburse our client’s legal expenses.

To review or download the entire order with our client's name redacted click the link below.

REDACTED ORDER

About Shuster & Saben:  If you are being sued for foreclosure chances are quite high that your bank or your bank’s law firm has lost a case to our firm.  Perhaps your bank or their lawyer will be angry that you hired Shuster & Saben.  We think they want you to bring a knife to a gunfight.  If you would rather bring an assault rife give us a call or e-mail foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com. 

Shuster & Saben Defeats Wells Fargo & Florida Default Law Group

One of the greatest thrills for a foreclosure defense attorney is to call their client from the courthouse parking lot and tell them the judge has thrown out the bank's case and that the bank’s lawsuit is now over. Firm attorney Richard Shuster, got such a thrill after his first Court appearance of the new year on Thursday, January 5, 2012.

Shuster was in Court in Brevard County, Florida on a motion to dismiss filed on behalf of a Space Coast foreclosure client. Unlike attorney Shuster, who appeared in person at the hearing, the attorney for Wells Fargo, an associate of the Florida Default Law Group, appeared at the hearing by phone. The issue addressed at the hearing was whether Wells Fargo’s foreclosure complaint was properly verified as required by Florida Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 1.110(b). Our position was that verification must be part of the complaint and cannot be made on a separate piece of paper. Wells Fargo argued that their separate verification pleading satisfied the requirements of the rule. Mr. Shuster was one of the first lawyers in Florida to “make new law” on this issue in the case PNC v. Peckham which appeared in the Florida Law Weekly Supplement in January of 2011. The Court agreed with our arguments and entered an order granting the motion to dismiss without leave to amend.

This lawsuit against our client is now over. The firm has already served a motion for attorney’s fees against Wells Fargo and will look forward to recovering attorney’s fees from Wells Fargo to reimburse legal expenses incurred by our client.

The client was overjoyed to know that there is no longer a case pending against him, that next month he will have no legal expenses, and that our efforts will now turn to recovering money from the bank to pay his legal expenses. To review the actual order in Adobe Acrobat / PDF format click the link below:

Redacted Order of Dismissal

About Shuster & Saben: Shuster & Saben, LLC is not like other foreclosure defense firms. We do not file motions to dismiss as a stall tactic. We file motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment to win foreclosure cases. We believe that a good foreclosure defense attorney builds and arms torpedoes and puts them in the water with the goal of sinking the lender’s case. Going on offense takes more work. Winning foreclosure cases requires going to Court, usually several times. This costs us more to do in terms of time, energy and resources and what we change reflects this. We are certainly NOT the cheapest foreclosure firm to hire but we strive to deliver superior results at a price that is clear, fair, predictable and an excellent value. To speak with an attorney to see if the foreclosure cases against you have a weakness or vulnerability that we can exploit please E-mail foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com.

Florida Law Weekly Supplement Publishes Firm Foreclosure Win

The Florida Law Weekly supplement has published an order granting a motion to dismiss obtained for a Saint Lucie County foreclosure defense client. The Florida Law Weekly Supplement publishes legally significant rulings of Florida’s county and circuit courts. The publication is available to Florida Lawyers on a subscription basis. This was the fourth published foreclosure opinion obtained by the firm and the third published foreclosure opinion for firm attorney Richard Shuster. Mr. Shuster has over twenty published opinions in a wide range of civil litigation matters.

In this case the firm filed a motion to dismiss Citibank’s foreclosure complaint for failure to comply with Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.110(b) which requires foreclosure complaints to be verified. Shuster asserted that the Citibank’s verification of the complaint on a separate document was improper and that verification must be made on the complaint itself. The rationale for this argument is that if a bank can verify a complaint on a separate piece of paper, such papers can be robosigned in advance and then just stapled to complaints as needed. If the person verifying the complaint signs the complaint itself, the Court knows that at a minimum the person verifying the complaint had possession of the complaint at the time they signed it.

Judge James Midelis, agreed with the firm’s arguments and granted the motion to dismiss the foreclosure case. The Court also ordered Citiabank to pay the homeowner’s attorneys fees. For the hearing on this case firm attorney Richard Shuster traveled from the firm’s Melbourne office to St. Lucie, Florida where the hearing was held. To download a copy of the order in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format please click the link below. Homeowners who have questions about whether the foreclosure complaint against their home was properly verified may E-mail the firm at foreclosuredefenselaw@gmail.com.

ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANT’S MOTION TO DISMISS

About Shuster & Saben: Shuster & Saben, LLC is a litigation firm of seven attorneys with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Melbourne Florida. The firm passionately defends foreclosure cases in those parts of the state that are within two hours of the firm's three offices. The firm also sues banks and loan servicers that violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, Truth In Lending Act and other consumer protection laws. Our goal is to deliver superior representation at a cost that is affordable, predictable, and an excellent value. Homeowners in foreclosure are welcome call or e-mail to obtain a free, no-obligation consultation with a firm attorney.